Nelly rocks the gold microphone on NBC's 'Today' show on Sept. 2 in New York. / Greg Allen, Invision/AP

by Trey Barrineau, USA TODAY

by Trey Barrineau, USA TODAY

Rapper Nelly has a message for the government during the current shutdown ‚?? keep your hands out of my pockets until you get back to work.

"I'm trying to campaign, since the government ain't working, we shouldn't have to pay taxes," Nelly told VH1 on Tuesday about the impasse in Washington. "Because, you know, paying taxes is supposed to pay for the government, which in turn is not working. So if they're not working, I shouldn't have to pay taxes. And me being in the upper echelon of the tax bracket, feel that the money I could be saving over these next couple of days could be very vital to my survival‚?¶So y'all keep banging."

According to Yahoo Music, Nelly (born Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr.) has sold more than 21 million albums during his career, ranking him as the fourth-biggest-selling hip-hop artist since Nielsen Soundscan started tracking sales data for Billboard in 1991. His most recent album, M.O., came out on Sept. 30.